Sin and redemption

God created us out of love and for love, but we know that all of history is marked by the sin of our first parents and our own sin.25 Sin damages our relationships with God, our own selves, others, and all of creation. We are all in need of the Lord’s grace, including his mercy and healing.

Sacred Scripture witnesses to the particular harm that sin causes to the relationship between man and woman (see Gn 3:7f.). With Original Sin, the experience of concupiscence (the inclination to sin) entered human history, as well as suffering and death.26 The original communion of man and woman is now threatened by sin, including the sin of lust.

But we know that sin does not have the last word. Christ has redeemed mankind and has made it possible for us, not only to fulfill God’s law, but also to live a new life of freedom in the Holy Spirit. In Jesus, redemption and healing are offered to every person. “Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation. He enlightens and strengthens us …”27 The Gospel is indeed very good news.

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Our bodies and sexuality are included in Christ’s work of redemption, which brings about a new creation that is fulfilled in the glory of the final coming of the Kingdom of God (see Rom 8:18-23). The human body has such great dignity! In the Incarnation, the divine Son assumed a complete human nature, body and soul. By his Resurrection, we look forward to the resurrection of our own bodies. In Baptism, our bodies are made temples of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Cor 6:19). Certainly, none of us is free from weakness and concupiscence, which remains after Baptism. Each of us is caught up in the drama of sin and redemption; we are challenged to put selfishness aside and to strive always toward more perfect love. But the Lord invites us with all our weaknesses to trust and abide in him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).